[ajay99]

Originally Posted by LVDS

Hi to all enthusiasts and experts on this thread
Been travelling extensively hence looking at this thread after a long time.
May be after owning over 19 cars in the last 17 years of my life right from a Low bonnet Willy's to an MR2 and a a few Safari's, Mondeo, Lancers, Zens, Lexus, etc. I probably may not know how to drive a VW, because frankly I am new to this whole process of VW restorations/driving. Any way my driving skills apart, After having waited for over 15 months and after having spent 6,14,500/- over this Car, with over 100 scratches and gashes on the newly painted car.( i think even my driver and watch man would know, one would finish the engine work and then only touch the exteriors as in painting of the car) but here the first thing done was the paint job and then the car was made to bear the harshness of the sun, rain and every other atmospheric condition. Upholstery supposedly worth 25K, which seems like my cobbler could have done a better job.
Frankly this whole process of restoration has been completely disillusioning for a new enthusiast like me, thanx to great personalities like Pavan Kadam and Ryan Oberoi.
The whole process has just been a process of lies, deception, values and figures changing within a few minutes of a single conversation.
I really think Mr. SAMSAG12 should save his opinion on my attitude.
BUT again thanx to a few good people in the world, the Car seems to have reached the safest of hands. The reason I actually am posting this is because the person working on the car right now is not only a veteran and a store house of information on cars of yester years, but is actually a true ambassador and campaigner of the restoring industry, though he probably makes a living off restorations, but he surely doesnt make it a business. I have met Mr. Sri Pati only once while showing the car and I think he is worthy of a lot of respect and people like Kadam should adore people like him and not make silly comments about cars that havent been restored by him, just coz the owners havent shown interest in the cars. Another true enthusiast, Pankaj thank you for restoring my faith in bringing back old world beauties on the road. It is an expensive passion to pursue but this is the most gratifying off them all.
I would surely love to join the likes of you and work towards getting the world to see and experience more and more of these beauties.

Welcome to the forum Lourdes Vijay.
If the figure mentioned by you is correct.it seems like you have spend much much more than what should have been spent considering the marque .

[wbd8779]

Well, i have been a quiet observer of this "restoration " , all i have seen is shoddy workmanship and cribbing about money issues . I guess the restorer and the owner should sort out these issues in private and not on public forums , where the uninitiated will pass needless and uncalled for comments like myself.

Having said that , restoring a classic / vintage has its own set of challenges and what might seem to be "ok" in terms of finish for the restorer , maybe completely unacceptable for the owner .

[KPS]

As far as possible one must follow the below order when one attempts to start on such a project

1. Get the Documents in Order
2. Get the engine and mechanicals completed and get the car running
3. Complete tinkering and all body work.
4. Painting
5. Upholstery and trims to be fitted
   6.Complete the balance docs including Insurance and FC

Wish LVDS all the best. You may not recover the cost on this car but let us hope you will get a chance to enjoy it some time in the future.

Cheers

KPS

[PAVAN KADAM]

I have charged Rs. 0 till date. GiMr Lourd

[harit]

Originally Posted by KPS

As far as possible one must follow the below order when one attempts to start on such a project

1. Get the Documents in Order
2. Get the engine and mechanicals completed and get the car running
3. Complete tinkering and all body work.
4. Painting
5. Upholstery and trims to be fitted
   6.Complete the balance docs including Insurance and FC

Wish LVDS all the best. You may not recover the cost on this car but let us hope you will get a chance to enjoy it some time in the future.

Cheers KPS

You are almost correct, but I would insert a 1A, and that is after the documentation is in order, first make a list of parts to be got to restore the entire car, parts for steps 2 to 5. You should get these in advance, you can never be sure to get parts for old cars at the time required. And sometimes parts take time to locate, and then import. Other than that, your line of action is correct.

Cheers harit

[PAVAN KADAM]

Everyone has witnessed the process all this while. I have given my Best. I have toiled my sweat and blood over the last 12 months. The figure of Rs.6 odd lacs mentioned is absurd. All I know and can account for is Rs.2.23 lacs . Which is I consider a decent amount considering the amount of work gone in. I request the mod team again to delete DEROGATORY POSTS as most of it mentioned is UNTRUE. Lourd has no GRATTITUDE towards all the Help I have selflessly offered over the past months. For all. I DON'T RUN A BUSINESS OF RESTORING CARS. I DO T AS A HOBBY. Most of them on this forum knows about it. I want request few guys here to stay off from commenting without knowing actual facts only if we need to take this post OFF-TOPIC further.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by LVDS

Any way my driving skills apart, After having waited for over 15 months and after having spent 6,14,500/- over this Car, with over 100 scratches and gashes on the newly painted car.( i think even my driver and watch man would know, one would finish the engine work and then only touch the exteriors as in painting of the car) but here the first thing done was the paint job and then the car was made to bear the harshness of the sun, rain and every other atmospheric condition. Upholstery supposedly worth 25K, which seems like my cobbler could have done a better job.

Please be very clear and factual when you present information to the community.

• Does the 6.14 lakhs include the price of the car+resto or just resto?
• Have you ever restored a classic yourself or gotten it done before to be able to judge cost and time requirements?
• What were the terms discussed before the start of this project?
• Have the seen bills for all the parts/labour done by Pavan Kadam? Are they matching up the 2.23L he claims?
• Have you taken back and examined the old parts? Do you feel the parts were replaced unnecessarily. Explain why?
• How much have you paid Pavan for his personal labour and expertise? How much are you paying the new guy?
• Is it true that he has done the work for free? If so, then what is your expectation of someone who gives you things for free?

As far as I understand the 3 problems are
1. scratches
2. overheating
3. upholstery .. is that correct?

• Have you given him a fair opportunity to address these issues?
• After owning Lexus and Mondeo, what is your expectation of upholstery quality
• are you not able to get the uphostery done by yourself? IIRC Stanley will not do full leather for 25K.

[PAVAN KADAM]

My version of your query in Bold

Originally Posted by Mpower

Please be very clear and factual when you present information to the community.

• Does the 6.14 lakhs include the price of the car+resto or just resto?
  Ans: Includes Price of the car (Which i am not aware about his transactions, He would not have bought the car if the price was high...) I have each and every price details about the Restoration and have shared the same with LVDS and the price for restoration does not go beyond 2.2 odd lacs
  
  
  
• Have you ever restored a classic yourself or gotten it done before to be able to judge cost and time requirements?
  Ans: He claimed saying he's restored few cars himself and knows the nitty grittys of Restoration, But he does not have any of those cars due to lack of interest and frustration while maintaining it
  
  
  
• What were the terms discussed before the start of this project?
  Ans: No terms were discussed, i did it purely for my love of VW, While LVDS always maintained, "You charge me Buddy" But always cribbed to pay up basic costs of restorations
  
  
  
• Have the seen bills for all the parts/labour done by Pavan Kadam? Are they matching up the 2.23L he claims?
  Ans: Everything matches, sometimes, prices of few spares kept changing from actual to quoted price, due to price changes -not more than 10-20%- mainly due to shipping.(Which he never understood)
  
  
  
• Have you taken back and examined the old parts? Do you feel the parts were replaced unnecessarily. Explain why?
  Ans: All spares were handed over without delay, each and everytime, Few spares are not even paid for till date, and few spares are not even returned back to me
  
  
  
• How much have you paid Pavan for his personal labour and expertise? How much are you paying the new guy?
  Ans: I am not aware of the New Guy....! But i have been Paid Rs. - 3675/- for clutch and loading plate. On my personal labour... Rs. 0/-
  
  
  
• Is it true that he has done the work for free? If so, then what is your expectation of someone who gives you things for free?
  Ans: Its FREE 100% till date. His expectations -Its best answered by LVDS
  
  
  
  

As far as I understand the 3 problems are
1. scratches - very few, hardly visible


2. overheating - Freshly overhauled engine,


3. upholstery .. is that correct? - No one will do a better job at that price for a car which never had any thing inside to start with, each and every design was replicated as per ORIGINAL

• Have you given him a fair opportunity to address these issues?
  Ans: I am not aware of it
  
  
• After owning Lexus and Mondeo, what is your expectation of upholstery quality
  Ans: ?
  
  
  
• are you not able to get the uphostery done by yourself? IIRC Stanley will not do full leather for 25K.
  Ans: I had asked him to get it done with anyone he knows, Since he could not find anyone, he asked me to help, which i did, the upholstery guy is a highly professional and knowledgeble guy, who's been working on quite a few of my cars and on TONRAG's cars and also for ADVAITH HYUNDAI Vintage cars.

[LVDS]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Please be very clear and factual when you present information to the community.

Hi,
Thank you for your post, firstly as a new enthusiast I should have been a little more careful about doing my preliminary checks. I really wish I was aware of team BHP. If I was I would have saved myself a lot of grief. I guess we all get carried away thinking people you know for years will not take you for a ride. However my idea of making this info public is just to warn new enthusiasts that restoration is a great hobby as long as you find the right people to restore it and I am guessing some wonderful people here on team BHP would surely guide us on the same.

• Does the 6.14 lakhs include the price of the car+resto or just resto? it includes the price of the car + resto. But just feel a bit cheated when fellow enthusiasts point out that the car+resto should have costed only about 70% of what I spent.
• Have you ever restored a classic yourself or gotten it done before to be able to judge cost and time requirements? I have kind of restored a low bonnet Willys, but luckily I had most of the resources at my behest and it wasnt a 100% original restoration and the engine was an MM540. I am new to the entire VW restoration family and went about it in complete faith and trust. which was a big mistake.
• What were the terms discussed before the start of this project? terms were, the restoration would not cost more than 1,58,000/- which was detailed in a spread sheet by Ryan Oberoi.
• Have the seen bills for all the parts/labour done by Pavan Kadam? Are they matching up the 2.23L he claims? Inspite of repeated requests, I was given bills that are not spares procured for my car and they dont amount to 2.23L. I can post the bills if you like.
• Have you taken back and examined the old parts? Do you feel the parts were replaced unnecessarily. Explain why? Havent got most spares just got a disc and a temporary back windshield which was made of poly vinyl.
• How much have you paid Pavan for his personal labour and expertise? How much are you paying the new guy? As per statements and vouchers I have paid a total of 6,14,500 out of which 2.25L went for the car and 25,500/- for the engine and balance went into restoration and procuring spares from Ratilal and Mid america Motor works. The new Person Mr. Sri Pati is a genuine person, and everybody I have spoken to has nothing but the best and most positive feedback about Mr. Sri Pati, after my first and second meeting with him I can surely say he is not only a store house of information and a veteran at restorations but also a true ambassador and champion of the Cause. People like Kadam should learn a thing or 2 rather than demeaning him on a public forum. My reason for getting on to this post is people like Sri Pati deserve a lot of respect and no KADAM should cause any harm to his reputation especially working in the same industry.
• Is it true that he has done the work for free? If so, then what is your expectation of someone who gives you things for free? I have told him many a times to be open and charge me for his services but again

I am gonna post 3 jpegs, 2 are the invoices from Mid America Motor works when I placed the order directly and also an over inflated estimate of the same by Pavan Kadam, even estimates for spares from Ratilal and Co. have been insanely inflated. So I am guessing nothing was done for free.
Invoice from Mid America Motorworks
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Mid%20America%20Invoice%20001.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Mid%20America%20Invoice.jpg[/IMG]

Estimate from Kadam in the same format and clearly values have been changed also check quote from Ratilal at the end:

[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Untitled-1.jpg[/IMG]

As far as I understand the 3 problems are
1. scratches
2. overheating
3. upholstery .. is that correct? YES

• Have you given him a fair opportunity to address these issues? Yes I have, but Pavan doesnt want to share the no. of the upholstery guy and keeps saying do a run in for a 1000Kms and then the engine will settle, if the car doesnt drive for a minimum of 5 Kms with out stopping then how will I do a run in for a 1000Km.
• After owning Lexus and Mondeo, what is your expectation of upholstery quality: My point is if we get a pro like Stanley they would do a plush job.
• are you not able to get the uphostery done by yourself? IIRC Stanley will not do full leather for 25K. I know, I didnt mind spending good money to get the interiors look great but unfortunately Kadam thinks other wise and made a statement that Stanley is not good at doing interiors for vintage cars and have done a bad job on many cars. The statement he just posted is a lie and I have smses from him to prove the same. I clearly told him that I would like to get the upholstery done by myself.

At the end of it, all I want to say is I shut all my companies and took up dancing as a full time profession which is a serious passion, my second passion is cars especially old world beauties and tried to get my first VW completely out of harsh and difficult savings day in and day out from my career as a dancer. The fact that people negate passion and look at some silly short terms gains is what is disappointing. As a person I would go to extremes just to pursue a passion and I just hope people rekindle the fire and keep the passion a light for a common cause. Like I have said above and a lot of you on this thread would agree that Mr. Sri Pati deserves a lot of respect and no one should tarnish his image come what may.
With this post I rest my case. Thank you one and all for following the thread. I will post pics and some details when the car is on the car restored to its 100% glory. At last I am happy that the CAR has reached the safest of hands.

[vintageman]

Sirs ,

A friend who is restoring a 67 VW Fastback in Lucknow , will be visiting Chennai in the coming week , he would like to interact with VW Fastback owners in Chennai - can any Team BHPian help???

Regards
Chauhan

[IndrojitSircar]

I was sent pics of this very car 2 days back offering it to me for sale. The pictures show that the car seemed to be complete but loads of dust on the car.

[KPS]

Selling this car will be a tough task considering the amount of money spent on this car is 6.14 lakhs. How many will be willing to pay such a price when you can get better cars for the same price.

All the best to the owner.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by LVDS

I am gonna post 3 jpegs, 2 are the invoices from Mid America Motor works when I placed the order directly and also an over inflated estimate of the same by Pavan Kadam, even estimates for spares from Ratilal and Co. have been insanely inflated. So I am guessing nothing was done for free.
Invoice from Mid America Motorworks
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Mid%20America%20Invoice%20001.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Mid%20America%20Invoice.jpg[/IMG]

Estimate from Kadam in the same format and clearly values have been changed also check quote from Ratilal at the end:

[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Downloads/Untitled-1.jpg[/IMG]

You have a habit of exaggerating facts my dear friend...

All the bills are give to you by me if you can remember..

And all the purchases are done by YOU not ME. I gave quotes including Shipping and Duty. But as per the Bill that you left behind in the Box and as i had told you, you eventually ended up paying MORE for the product than what i had quoted......... You want proof...?

I sent you a link to get the original Dash for your car for $65.00. You did not buy it, But what did you do recently, you purchased the same at $315.

Who's Insane here my dear friend.

I have buried the past and let it be bygone's.

Its a small round world, lets not carry forwards grudges....

Originally Posted by IndrojitSircar

I was sent pics of this very car 2 days back offering it to me for sale. The pictures show that the car seemed to be complete but loads of dust on the car.

What a co-incidence Indro.....

Many of my friends too called me inquiring the same.

Originally Posted by KPS

Selling this car will be a tough task considering the amount of money spent on this car is 6.14 lakhs. How many will be willing to pay such a price when you can get better cars for the same price.

All the best to the owner.

Precisely saying, the Total money spent on the car is NOT BEYOND 5 lacs including the purchase value and the Restoration. Ask me, i have the EXACT details.....

OTOH Where do you get Fastbacks these days.....

1) 1967 Fastback Single port,Single carb 1600cc - LVDS - Restored by me.
2) 1966 Fastback Dual port, Single carb 1600cc - With me right now.
3) 1967 Fastback Dual port , Twin Carb 1600ccTL - With me right now.


Please name others, if anyone has info on any Fastback viewed....

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by IndrojitSircar

I was sent pics of this very car 2 days back offering it to me for sale. The pictures show that the car seemed to be complete but loads of dust on the car.

Sir, would you mind sharing the pictures that you received?

[thebulletboy]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

I sent you a link to get the original Dash for your car for $65.00. You did not buy it, But what did you do recently, you purchased the same at $315.

The type 3 came off the factory line with a dash pad made of compressed foam.

A repro original style dash pad made of compressed foam retails for around 150 USD.

Cheaper economy quality plastic dash pads are available at around 75 USD. These are manufactured and sold by WestCoastMetric.

If you have found a source of the compressed foam dash pads at 65 USD I would be very interested.